dGiven the list of his achievements, no one can seriously deny that Elon Musk has a bright streak as an entrepreneur: with PayPal he reinvented online payments, Tesla set the standard for electric cars ten years before the European competition, and with SpaceX Musk it proves that privately developed rockets fly through space faster and cheaper than NASA ever could.
But to run all of his companies at once, Musk has developed a brusque, sometimes chaotic management style characterized by quick, drastic decisions and an obsession with detail, hierarchical management structures and extreme work schedules.
Musk is used to being heard by everyone in his universe, he does not accept contradictions, let alone long debates. Such a leadership style is necessary to bring success to several start-ups in parallel and at the same time it is completely unsuitable to lead a complex social network like Twitter.
With the purchase of Twitter, the genius fell into the trap. Because to understand the mechanisms of a social network you need above all to be empathetic.
Any changes to the mechanics of a platform require careful consideration. Twitter competitor Meta tests even the smallest Facebook or Instagram change on small groups of users for weeks.
Musk’s brusque management style doesn’t work here. A social network is not a start-up in which everyone works for the same goal, on the contrary: it is a mirror of our society, and as in any society there are those who want to be involved – and those who like to disturb, the trolls. Musk should have known this before he got involved, as he was once perhaps the most influential Twitter troll himself.
suppression of free speech
But Musk is currently demonstrating that he hasn’t understood the mechanics of his platform: he, who bought Twitter with the stipulation that freedom of expression should be above all else, is now setting special rules for himself – and reducing so all the supports to the absurdity so far stood.
His most recent blunder: He blocked the “Elonmusksjet” Twitter account, which automatically documented Musk’s private jet flights from publicly available data on plane movements.
He would have had to put up with so much transparency, “free speech” and so on. Instead, Musk introduced a new usage rule to deactivate the account he didn’t like.
And he proved that he did not understand one of the fundamental effects of a social network: Only when information is suppressed does it gain importance and suddenly become interesting – does the so-called “Streisand effect” take effect:
Suddenly the topic “Elonmusksjet” was trending on Twitter. On Thursday, well-known US journalists publicly discussed the contradiction between Musk’s right to freedom of expression and the decision to block him in a virtual “Twitter space”.
When Musk himself barged into the unsolicited discussion round, he got stuck in his attempt to justify himself, didn’t answer questions, left the round again, and seconds later turned off the “Spaces” feature completely to discuss the debate for Ordre de Mufti, which he did not like to finish.
Ban US journalists from reporting critically on Musk
He also quickly blocked the Twitter user accounts of various US journalists who critically reported on his behavior. The decision would have been worthy of a dictator, but not of a Twitter CEO who carries freedom as a mantra on flags.
With recent bans, Musk is devaluing Twitter as a platform for the democratic exchange of opinion, destroying its investment and endangering the preservation of “common digital town hall square,” the goal Musk started with just a few weeks ago.
If the boss can dictate what topics aren’t acceptable, then Twitter is dead. The recent bans promptly sparked a mass exodus of users to rival network Mastodon.
Musk’s reaction is eloquent, reminiscent of a rich and rebellious boy: if other children don’t want to play with him according to his rules, then they can’t play anywhere else either. Recently, users can no longer post Mastodon links on Twitter.
Elon Musk would do well to acknowledge that his involvement with Twitter is misleading, that his methods don’t work here.
He should focus on what he can and leave running Twitter to an experienced social media manager. This would ensure Musk’s retention of the platform and his fortune. Otherwise you risk an exodus of users, advertisers and staff, and the Twitter experiment will fail.
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